HOT FLASHES CAUSED BY STRESS AND CORTISOL?
If you are going through the menopause transition you likely know about hot flashes. In fact, hot flashes are reported by 70-80% of women during this time period. If you are simply alive today, you likely know about stress. But do you know about the important hormone, cortisol. Two studies suggest that hot flashes may be caused by cortisol dysregulation.
A small study in 2016 asked women to use diaries to record frequency, severity and bothersomeness of daily hot flashes and submitted salivary cortisol samples throughout the day. After the observation period the results showed that “Cortisol dysregulation was related to more frequent, severe and bothersome daily self-reported hot flashes”.
“Cortisol dysregulation was related to more frequent, severe and bothersome daily self-reported hot flashes”.
Another study investigating the associated between hot flashes in women aged 40-62 and daily salivary cortisol levels echoed this. Women with a blunted cortisol response between waking and 30 minutes after waking and elevated cortisol levels in afternoon and evening experienced more hot flashes; over 8 pre day.
The authors conclude that results from their study “suggest that high frequency of moderate to severe hot flashes may be associated with subtle abnormalities in cortisol concentrations”.
“High frequency of moderate to severe hot flashes may be associated with subtle abnormalities in cortisol concentrations”.
Learn more at Valley Integrative Health
Dr. Devin Wilson is a Naturopathic Doctor in Ashland, Oregon who specializes in hormone health and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (bHRT) for women. He has completed advance training in bHRT and chelation therapy from some of the most respected institutions in the country. He is also a certified chelation therapist. Dr. Wilson has been successfully supporting perimenopausal and menopausal women with bHRT and natural methods for over 10 years.